Digital Foundations

Digital Foundations uses formal exercises of the Bauhaus to teach the Adobe Creative Suite. All students of digital design and production—whether learning in a classroom or on their own—need to understand the basic principles of design in order to implement them using current software. Far too often design is left out of books that teach software for the trade and academic markets. Consequently, the design software training exercise is often a lost opportunity for visual learning.

Digital Foundations is creative commons licensed (CC+BY-NC-SA). Read the whole book on our wiki, and read more about the writing process on our Blog.

Praise for Digital Foundations

"This ambitious book teaches visual thinking and software skills together. The text leads readers step-by-step through the process of creating dynamic images using a range of powerful applications. The engaging, experimental exercises take this project well beyond the typical software guide."

ELLEN LUPTON, co-author of Graphic Design: The New Basics

"This groundbreaking text applies the classical Modernist pedagogy of the Bauhaus to digital media. It's a must-have for every art student, design student, and new media maven."

MARK TRIBE, Brown University, Founder of Rhizome.org

"Everyone should use this book: it really combines design principles, software tutorials and Bauhaus history. And it's open source!"

TIFFANY HOLMES, Associate Professor Chair, Department of Art and Technology Studies, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

"This book is an unprecedented bridge between how visual design was once taught and how it needs to be taught today. It decodes digital tools and culture while explaining fundamental visual design principles within a historical context."

"This book is the perfect fusion of technical and formal instruction. It gives the lie to those who think you can learn to use the Adobe Suite of computer applications effectively without an art education, and opens the door to a more practical understanding of the importance of artistic practice in our culture."

Tagged with: Digital Foundations

I am speaking on a CUNY Open Access Week panel on Open Access in the Arts, which includes lecture/presentations by Doug Geers, Nina Paley, and myself. There will be a full screening of Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues to follow panel presentation.

HOWTO Negotiate a Creative Commons License: Ten Steps – More DIY How To Projects
After a recent conversation with an author that signed a contract and then realized she should have negotiated a Creative Commons license for it, I realized I should revive the HOWTO CC post as an instructable. Same content, new form. New community.
Original all-text-no-pictures version here

As I get ready to take part in the Transmediale/FLOSSmanuals book sprint for the “Collaborative Futures” book, I thought it was relevant to drop this blog post about an older interview about FLOSS and art.

From Patrick Davison, for a workshop at the Quest To Learn charter school in NYC:
Talking to someone on the internet? Want to seem cool? Want to photoshop their head onto that of a celebrity? Well – the digital savvy know how to do that, but the REALLY digital savvy know that Photoshop’s not the only way. The world of digital image manipulation is too often seen as a one-horse race, but it doesn’t have to be that way. GIMP is the premiere, super-fantastic FREE SOFTWARE tool for photo retouching, digital image creation, and cover-for-the-CD-me-and-my-friends-made-in-my-basement making. Come get an introduction to both at once, learning the strengths and weaknesses of both as you make your Facebook photos look better, and your friends be more jealous of your skillz. With a “z.”